Hard-working or hardworking?
hard-working is an adjective meaning “Alternative form of hardworking”; hardworking is an adjective meaning “Of a person, taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly”. hard-working is written with a hyphen and hardworking as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between hard-working and hardworking?
| hard-working | hardworking | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective |
| Meaning | Alternative form of hardworking | Of a person, taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | harder-working, hardest-working | none |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈhɑːɹdˌwɜːɹ.kɪŋ/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 1.9 times per million words |
Sources: hard-working and hardworking in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of hard-working and hardworking
hard-working
- 1
Alternative form of hardworking
hardworking
- 1
Of a person, taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, hard-working or hardworking?
hard-working is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; hardworking 1.9 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).